dkshema
rrProfessor
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
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| and make sure what you use is good then whats the problem.
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And this is the attitude you have when you buy a helicopter kit? Hope that what you got is usable? And if it's not, go out and buy more parts hoping to get a set of good ones?
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| Go into the rest of R/C world, cars, trucks, planes, boats...etc. Then come back and say that Align's quality is crap, have you ever tried machining a part?
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I have. For more than 30 years. Cars, boats, planes, helicopters. Radio Control, control line, free flight. Align's quality IS crap. Having owned helicopter kits manufactured by Hirobo, Kavan, GMP, American RC Helicopters, Kyosho, Schluter, Miniature Aircraft and others, I can attest to the fact that after producing the T-Rex for nearly two years, Align's quality has NOT improved. Have I ever tried machining a part? Yes. But, when I buy a kit, I expect that I don't have to machine ANY parts. Further, when I buy a kit, I expect that the manufacturer of the kit understands how to machine a part. If they can't, they shouldn't be in the business.
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| Yes, but there not working for the government here nor NASA
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That excuses them from turning out a quality kit for us, the consumer? I bought a Kyosho EP 400 for about $270.00. Same market that the T-Rex is seeking. Roughly the same price, but I got full carbon frames, high quality parts, high quality machining, parts that fit and a heli that flies much like its bigger brothers. Not quite as aerobatic as the T-Rex, but there was no need to put up with cheap, second quality parts.
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| They are making them for the average hobby builder, and at this point if your flying micro helis you should know how to correct small issues.
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The average hobby builder has to accept crap and fiddle around with parts to get a decent flying helicopter? I own eight helis right now, two of them are T-Rexes. I've owned the Rexes since December 2004. I have experienced their quality problems first-hand. I find myself flying the Rexes less and less because I get tired of messing with them.
Tracking never really stays close, let alone spot-on. With the EP 400, I've had it since December 2005. Even after three crashes, I've not had to mess around with tracking once! The last crash was full bore into the ground. The repair cost was $30, and that included shipping. I'm still on the original set of wood blades. There IS a difference in quality, and just because I'm "the average hobbyist" I don't expect less.
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| How would you like to pay $100 for a mainshaft?.
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Why should I have to. It's not rocket science to turn out a straight rod with two holes drilled in it, and a groove around the middle. The EP400 mainshaft has more machining required -- the bottom is stepped down for about an inch of its length to accept a hardened collar for the one-way bearing to ride on, it has a slot cut in it lengthwise for the pitch control rod, as well as a hole at the top, and the bottom. A mainshaft costs $8.99. Not $100, and it's straight right out of the bag! I don't get three in a bag, but then I only have to buy one to get a good one.
A set of gears for the main drive costs about $3.00. And they are ROUND.
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| There are and were inherent problems with the Trex line of helis, but Align as always come with the fix
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Yes, as I recall the swashplate alone took somewhere in the neighborhood of five iterations (at about $30 per iteration to the end user) to keep it from flying apart, and that was over the course of a year. The real fix was what most people found out on their own -- take it apart, clean it, and use a QUALITY adhesive to reassemble it. Align never figured out the glue problem like the rest of us, they ended up staking the parts together. If you're one of those who bought each of the interim $30 upgrades to fix the swash problem, you spent $150 on swashplates. Now tell me how much ONE CNC swash for that 90 sized ship costs (and that you really don't need to buy in the first place).
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| This is far better than the Raptor line of heli's that have always and still have oneway bearing issues.
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I think I've seen people here with one-way clutch problems on their Rexes. But then when you get right down to it, the loads presented to a one-way clutch on a Hyper 50 powered, 7 to 8 pound helicopter far exceed the loads presented to the one-way clutch on the Rex. The 50 is capable of transferring a lot more horsepower to the one-way on a Raptor than the electric motors we use in the Rex. The mass and inertia of the larger 600 mm CCF blades also place a heavier load on the one-way clutch in a Raptor than the Align woodies on a T-Rex.
Why should the "average hobbyist" simply have to put up with substandard, low quality parts just because the parts come from Align? Will you accept the same quality on the yet-to-be released Align 600 electric? If the 600 has the same quality as the Rex, I don't think I'd want to be on the same field with it when it's in the air. On the other hand, if Align CAN put out good quality parts for the 600, why can't they do the same for the Rex?
Kyosho has demonstrated that it is possible to turn out a T-Rex sized electric heli using first quality parts, for the same price as a Rex.
I work just as hard to earn the money to buy a Hirobo EVO 50 as I do to buy an Align T-Rex. The money spends the same for either kit. Why should I expect my hard work to buy substandard parts just because they are put out by Align?
Is it asking too much for Align to IMPROVE its T-Rex by improving its quality?
Dave |
